The Category of Case in Nouns

The Category of Case in Nouns

The problem of the number of cases in English has given rise to different theories which

were based on the different ways of approaching the description of English grammatical structure.

Case is an indication of a relation in which the noun stands to some other word.

H. Sweet's (42) conception of the number of cases in English doubtful. He is not sure

whether in English there are five or two cases. He writes: “English has only one inflected case, the

genitive /man’s, men’s/, the uninflected base constituting the common case / man, men /, which is

equivalent to the nominative, vocative, accusative and dative of such a language as Latin”.

As we see he is under a certain influence of the Latin grammar. If we treat the English

language out of the facts of Latin, then we'll really have to acknowledge the existence of five

cases. But the facts of English made Sweet identify only two.

O. Curme (26) considers that of many case endings once used English has preserved only one, - 1st of the

genitive. Apart from the genitive relation, these grammatical relations are now indicated by the position of the noun

with regard to the verb or prepositions which have taken the place of the old inflectional endings / He distinguishes

four cases:

1. Nominative-performs 3 functions:

subject, predicate and direct object

2. Accusative - performs 3 functions: object, adverbial modifier, predicate.

The dog bit my brother /obj./

He stayed an hour /adverbial acc/

I believed to be him /predicate/

3. Dative: When an action directed toward smb:

He makes coat for John.

4. Genitive: girl's...

O. Jespersen (33), (34) distinguishes two cases: common and genitive.

M. Bryant (24) is of the same opinion:

H. Whitehall (43) distinguishes two cases in nouns on analogy with the pronouns which can substitute for

them: nominative and objective.

He says: "The so-called possessive case is best thought of as a method of transforming a noun into a

modifier"...

Among the Russian grammarians we find different views on the problem of case system in Modern English

nouns.

B.A. Ilyish (15) considers that – ‘s is no longer a case inflexion in the classical sense of a word. Unlike

such classical inflections, -‘s may be attached:

a) to adverbs: yesterday's events

b) to a word group: Mary and John's apartment

c) to a whole clause: the man I saw yesterday’s son.

Ilyish concludes that the – ‘s morpheme gradually develops into a "form-word", a kind of

particle serving to convey the meanings of belonging, possession”.

G.U. Vorontsova (11) does not recognize -'s as case morpheme. She treats it as a

"postposition", "a purely syntactical form - word resembling a preposition", used as a sign of

syntactical dependence". Her arguments are as follows:

1. The use of-'s is optional /her brother's, of her brother/.

2. It is used with a limited group of nouns outside which it occurs very seldom.

3. -'s is used both in the singular and in the plural which is not incident to case morphemes.

e.g. мальчик – а – мальчиков

4. It occurs in very few plurals, only those with the irregular formation of the plural

member: oxen's, but cows

5. -'s does not make an inseparable part of the structure of word. It may be placed at some

distance from the head-word of an attributive group.

To Khaimovich and Rogovskaya (22) -' s still function as a case morpheme, because:

1. The-'s morpheme is mostly attached to individual nouns, not noun groups /in 96 %/.

2. It's general meaning – “the relation of a noun to another word” - is a typical case

meaning.

3. The fact that -‘s occurs, as a rule, with a more or less limited group of words bears

testimony to its not being a "preposition like form word". The use of the preposition is determined,

chiefly by the noun it introduces: on /in/ under the table...

4. oxen’s - cows' /z/, /θ/ and /of/ alternants: identical meanings and in complementary distribution.

5. –‘s not a “preposition like word” since it has no vowel as it is found in other prepositions in English.

Verb. Notional parts of speech

Verb as a Part of Speech

Words like to read, to live, to go, to jump are called verbs because of their following features.

1. they express the meanings of action and state;

2. they have the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood, order and posteriority

most of which have their own grammatical means;

3. the function of verbs entirely depends on their forms: if they in finite form they fulfill only one function –

predicate. But if they are in non-finite form then they can fulfill any function in the sentence but predicate;

they may be part of the predicate;

4. verbs can combine actually with all the parts of speech, though they do not combine with articles, with

some pronouns. It is important to note that the combinability of verbs mostly depends on the syntactical

function of verbs in speech;

5. verbs have their own stem-building elements. They are:

postfixes: -fy (simplify, magnify, identify…)

-ize (realize, fertilize, standardize…)

-ate (activate, captivate…)

prefixes: re- (rewrite, restart, replant…)

mis- (misuse, misunderstand, misstate…)

un- (uncover, uncouple, uncrown…)

de- (depose, depress, derange…) and so on.

Functional parts of speech

Now, when we have viewed all the notional words we may get down to the study of

structural or functional parts of speech. To this group of words traditionally prepositions,

conjunctions, articles and some auxiliary words are referred. Some scholars include adverbs, linkverbs,

and even modal-verbs (Fries). It is important to consider the conceptions of some prestructural

grammarians.

H. Sweet (42) in the sentence "The earth is round" differs two types of words: full words and form words or

empty words: earth and round are full words while the and is are form words. He states that the and is are "form

words because they are words in form only... they are entirely devoid of meaning". Is does not have a meaning of

its own but is used to connect subject and predicate. Thus though it has no meaning of its own, independent

meaning, it has a definite grammatical function - it is a grammatical form-word. But "the" has not even a

grammatical function and serves only to show that earth is to be taken as terrestrical globe and therefore it is a part

of the word as the derivational prefix un - in unknown. In treating form-words by Sweet one of the most valuable

point is the following his conception. He states that very often a word combines the function of a form - word with

something of the independent meaning of a full word. To this type of words he includes words like become in he

became a prime minister. As full word it has the meaning of “change” and the function of the form - word is. The

above sentence consists of "He changed his condition + he is a prime minister". Now his conception schematically

may be shown as follows:

full words - intermediate stratum - form - word.

Facts like these bear the proof that it is difficult to draw a definite line between full words and form words.

O. Jespersen (33), (34): suggests that adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections should be called

particles. He sees a parallel in the relation between an adverb and a preposition and the relation between intransitive

and a transitive verb. According to his statement there is the same difference between the verbs in He sings, He

plays and He sings a song, He plays the piano. "Yet in spite of these differences in verb no one assigns them to

different part of speech. Therefore why we should assign to different parts of speech words like on and since.

Put your cap on (adv.)

Put your cap on your head (preposition); and

I have not seen her since (adv.)

I have not seen her since I arrived (preposition)

Because of these facts they may be termed by one word, i.e. "Particles".

Simple sentence

Simple sentences are divided into two-member and one-member sentences.A two-member sentence has two members – a subject and a predicate. A two-member sentence may be complete or incomplete. It is complete when it has a subject and a predicate. It is incomplete when one of the principal parts or both of them are missing, but can be easily understood from the context. A one-member sentence is a sentence having only one member which is neither the subject nor the predicate. One-member sentences are generally used in descriptions and in emotional speech.If the main part of a one-member sentence is expressed by a noun, the sentence is called nominal. The noun may be modified by attributes.E.g. Dusk – of a summer night. (Dreiser)Freedom! Bells ringing out, flowers, kisses, wine. (Heym). The main part of a one-member sentence is often expressed by an infinitive.E.g. To die out there – lonely, wanting them, wanting home! (Galsworthy). Simple sentences, both two-member and one-member, can be unextended and extended. A sentence consisting only of the primary or principal parts is called an unextended sentence. An extended sentence is a sentence consisting of the subject, the predicate and one or more secondary parts (objects, attributes, or adverbial modifiers). Examples of simple sentences include the following: 1)Joe waited for the train."Joe" = subject, "waited" = verb. 2) The train was late."The train" = subject, "was" = verb. 3) Mary and Samantha took the bus."Mary and Samantha" = compound subject, "took" = verb. 4) I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station."I" = subject, "looked" = verb

Complex sentence

A complex sentence consists of one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses.

The first thing we need to do to analyze a complex sentence is to find out the main or principal clause. Study the example sentence given below. Whenever he was asked that question, the old man who lived in that house answered that the earth was flat. The sentence given above consists of four clauses. A sentence that has two finite verbs has two clauses. So, in the example given above the finite verbs are: was asked, lived, answered and was. Analysis. 1. The old man answered. (Main clause) 2. Whenever he was asked that question (Adverb clause of time modifying the verb answered.) 3. Who lived in that house (Adjective clause modifying the noun man.) 4. That the earth was flat (Noun clause which acts as the object of the main verb answered.) Note that an adverb clause of time says when something happens. An adverb clause of place says where something happens. Adverbs usually express ideas such as time, place, manner, frequency etc. A noun clause usually acts as the subject or object of the verb in another clause. In the example given above, the noun clause is the object of the verb in the main clause. I think that he pocketed the mobile phone which was lying on the table. There are three finite verbs: think, pocketed and was lying. Analysis. 1. I think. (Main clause)2. That he pocketed the mobile phone (Noun clause which acts as the object of the verb think. 3. Which was lying on the table. (Adjective clause which modifies the noun mobile phone.)

Compound sentence

A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. A clause is part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate of its own.In a compound sentence the clauses may be connected: (a) syndetically, i.e. by means of coordinating conjunctions (and, or, else, but, etc.) or conjunctive adverbs (otherwise, however, nevertheless, yet, etc.); (b) asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or conjunctive adverb. We can distinguish the following types of coordination: 1. Copulative coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘and, nor, neither…nor, not only…but (also)’. With the help of these conjunctions the statement expressed in the clause is simply added to that expressed in another. 2. Disjunctive coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘or, else, or else, either…or’, and the conjunctive adverb ‘otherwise’. By these a choice is offered between the statements expressed in two clauses. 3.Adversative coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘but, while, whereas’ and the conjunctive adverbs ‘nevertheless, still, yet’. These are conjunctions and adverbs connecting two clauses contrasted in meaning. 4. Causative-consecutive coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘for, so’ and the conjunctive adverbs ‘therefore, accordingly, consequently, hence’. ‘For’ introduces coordinate clauses explaining the preceding statement. ‘Therefore, so, consequently, hence, accordingly’ introduce coordinate clauses denoting cause, consequence and result.Examples of compound sentences include the following: 1) Joe waited for the train, but the train was late. 2) I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station, but they arrived at the station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived. 3) Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived. 4) Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I arrived, so I did not see them at the bus station.

 

Sentence. General

It is rather difficult to define the sentence as it is connected with many lingual and extra lingual aspects – logical, psychological and philosophical. We will just stick to one of them - according to academician G.Pocheptsov, the sentence is the central syntactic construction used as the minimal communicative unit that has its primary predication, actualises a definite structural scheme and possesses definite intonation characteristics. This definition works only in case we do not take into account the difference between the sentence and the utterance. The distinction between the sentence and the utterance is of fundamental importance because the sentence is an abstract theoretical entity defined within the theory of grammar while the utterance is the actual use of the sentence. In other words, the sentence is a unit of language while the utterance is a unit of speech.

The most essential features of the sentence as a linguistic unit are a) its structural characteristics – subject-predicate relations (primary predication), and b) its semantic characteristics – it refers to some fact in the objective reality. It is represented in the language through a conceptual reality:

conceptual reality proposition

 

objective reality lingual representation objective situation predicative unit

 

We may define the proposition as the main predicative form of thought. Basic predicative meanings of the typical English sentence are expressed by the finite verb that is immediately connected with the subject of the sentence (primary predication).

To sum it up, the sentence is a syntactic level unit, it is a predicative language unit which is a lingual representation of predicative thought (proposition).

 

1. Different approaches to the study of the sentence.

 

a) Principal and secondary parts of the sentence.

b) Immediate constituents of the sentence. IC analysis.

To grasp the real structure of the English sentence, one must understand not only words that occur but also the principles of their arrangement. Each language has its own way of structural grouping. English has dichotomous phrase structure, which means that the phrase in English can always be divided into two elements (constituents) until we get down to the single word. All groups of words are arranged in levels. The name given by linguists to these different levels of relationship is immediate constituents.

Thus, one way of analyzing a sentence is to cut it to its immediate constituents, that is, to single out different levels of meaning:

 

The old man saw a black dog there S

NP VP

Det NP VP D

A N V NP

Det NP

NP VP A N

It is obvious that dividing a sentence into ICs does not provide much information. Nevertheless, it can sometimes prove useful if we want to account for the ambiguity of certain constructions. A classic example is the phrase old men and women which can be interpreted in two different ways. Ambiguity of this kind is referred to as syntactic ambiguity. By providing IC analysis we can make the two meanings clear:

old men and women old men and women

c) Oppositional analysis.

The oppositional method in syntax means correlating different sentence types: they possess common features and differential features. Differential features serve the basis for analysis.

E.g. two member sentence:: one member sentence (John worked:: John! Work! Or: I speak English:: I don’t speak English.

d) Constructional analysis.

According to the constructional approach, not only the subject and the predicate but also all the necessary constituents of primary predication constitute the main parts because they are constructionally significant. Therefore, the secondary parts of the sentence are sometimes as necessary and important as the main ones. If we omit the object and the adverbial modifier in the following sentences they will become grammatically and semantically unmarked: Bill closed the door; She behaved well.

The structural sentence types are formed on the basis of kernels (basic structures). Three main types of propositional kernels may be distinguished: N V, N is A, N is N. However, if we take into account the valent properties of the verbs (their obligatory valency) the group will become larger (8 kernels), e.g. N1 V N2 N3: John gave Ann the book, N1 V N2: I see a house.

The kernel sentences form the basis for syntactic derivation. Syntactic derivation lies in producing more complex sentences

Syntactic processes may be internal and external. Internal syntactic processes involve no changes in the structure of the parts of the sentence. They occur within one and the same part of the sentence (subject, etc.). External syntactic processes are those that cause new relations within a syntactic unit and lead to appearance of a new part of the sentence.

The internal syntactic processes are:

ExpansionCompression

The phone was ringing and ringing They were laughing and singing

ComplicationContamination

(a synt. unit becomes complicated) (two parts of the sentence are joined

I have seen it – I could have seen it together – e.g. double predicate)

The moon rose red

Replacement – the use of the words that have a generalized meaning: one, do, etc, I’d like to take this one.

Representation – a part of the syntactic unit represents the whole syntactic unit: Would you like to come along? I’d love to.

Ellipsis – Where are you going? To the movies.

 

The external syntactic processes are:

Extension - a nice dress – a nice cotton dress.

Ajoinment - the use of specifying words, most often particles: He did it – Only he did it.

Enclosure – inserting modal words and other discourse markers: after all, anyway, naturally, etc.

 

2. The utterance. Informative structure of the utterance.

 

The utterance as opposed to the sentence is the unit of speech. The

main categories of the utterance from the point of view of its informative structure are considered to be the theme and the rheme. They are the main components of the Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP) – actual division of the sentence (most language analysts stick to the term “sentence” but actually they mean “utterance”).

In English, there is a “standard” word order of Subject + Verb + Object: The cat ate the rat – here we have a standard structure (N1 + V + N2). However, there are numerous other ways in which the semantic content of the sentence can be expressed:

1. The rat was eaten by the cat.

2. It was the cat that ate the rat.

3. It was the rat that the cat ate.

4. What the cat did was ate the rat.

5. The cat, it ate the rat.

Which of these options is actually selected by the writer or the speaker will depend on the context in which the utterance occurs and the importance of the information. One important consideration is whether the information has already been introduced before or it is assumed to be known to the reader or listener. Such information is referred to as given information or the theme. It contrasts with information which is introduced for the first time and which is known as new information or the rheme.

Informative structure of the utterance is one of the topics that still attract the attention of language analysts nowadays. It is well recognized that the rheme marking devices are:

1. Position in the sentence. As a rule new information in English generally comes last: The cat ate the rat.

2. Intonation.

3. The use of the indefinite article. However, sometimes it is impossible (as in 1): A gentleman is waiting for you.

4. The use of ‘there is’, ‘there are’. There is a cat in the room.

5. The use of special devices, like ‘as for’, ‘but for’, etc.: As for him, I don’t know.

6. Inverted word order: Here comes the sun.

7. The use of emphatic constructions: It was the cat that ate the rat.

However, sometimes the most important information is not expressed formally: The cat ate the rat after all. The rheme here is ‘the rat’. At the same time there is very important information which is hidden or implicit: the cat was not supposed to do it, or – it was hard for the cat to catch the rat, or – the cat is a vegetarian (this hidden information will depend on the context or situation). In other words, we may say that this sentence contains two informative centres, or two rhemes – explicit and implicit.

There are many definitions of the sentence and these definitions differ from each other

because that the scientists approach from different view points to this question. Some of them

consider the sentence from the point view of phonetics, others - from the point of view of

semantics (the meaning of the sentence) and so on. According to the opinion of many grammarians

the definition of the sentence must contain all the peculiar features of the smallest communicative

unit.

Some of the definitions of a sentence are given below.

≪Предложение – минимальная синтаксическая конструкция, используемая в актах речевой

коммуникации, характеризующаяся предикативностью и реализующая определенную структурную схему≫

(14)

“The sentence is the immediate integral unit of speech built up of words according to a definite syntactic

pattern and distinguished by a contextually relevant communicative purpose”

The definitions which are mentioned above prove that B.A. Ilyish is quite right when he writes: “The

notion of sentence has not so far received a satisfactory definition” (15)

“A sentence is a unit of speech whose grammatical structure conforms to the laws of the language and

which serves as the chief means of conveying a thought. A sentence is not only a means of communicating

something about reality but also a means of showing the speaker's attitude to it.

“В отличие от слова или словосочетания, которые выражают лишь различные

понятия, предложения выражают относительно законченные мысли и тем самым

используются как единицы общения между людьми; произнося (или изображая на письме)

предложения, люди что-то сообщают, выясняют, побуждают друг другу к выполнению

действия.

The train moved out of the city.

Are you ready?

Put down the book.

Для того чтобы сообщение о том или ином факте, явлении был полным, законченным, требуется

указать каким образом данный факт, явление, событие и т.д. относится к реальной действительности,

существует ли оно на самом деле или же мыслится как возможное предполагаемое, воображаемое,

необходимое и т.д., т.е. необходимо выразить модальность сообщения. Модальность непременно имеется в

любом предложении≫.

≪Важнейшим средством грамматического оформления предложения является законченность

интонации≫. (15)

Thus, concluding the above mentioned conceptions, we can say that in any act of

communication there are three factors:

1. The act of speech;

2. The speaker;

3. Reality (as viewed by the speaker).

B. Khaimovich and Rogovskaya (22) state that these factors are variable since they change with every act

of speech. They may be viewed from two viewpoints:

1) from the point of view of language are constant because they are found in all acts of

communication;

2) they are variable because they change in every act of speech.

Every act of communication contains the notions of time, person and reality.

The events mentioned in the communications are correlated in time and time correlation is

expressed by certain grammatical and lexical means.

Any act of communication presupposes existence of the speaker and the hearer. The

meaning of person is expressed by the category of person of verbs. They may be expressed

grammatically and lexico-grammatically by words: I, you, he...

Reality is treated differently by the speaker and this attitude of the speaker is expressed by

the category of mood in verbs. They may be expressed grammatically and lexically (may, must,

probably...)

According to the same authors the three relations - to the act of speech, to the speaker and

to reality - can be summarized as the relation to the situation of speech.

The relation of the thought of a sentence to the situation of speech is called predicativity.

Predicativity is the structural meaning of the sentence while intonation is the structural form of it.

Thus, a sentence is a communication unit made up of words /and word-morphemes/ in conformity

with their combinability and structurally united by intonation and predicativity.

Within a sentence the word or combination of words that contains the meanings of

predicativity may be called the predication.

My father used to make nets and sell them.

My mother kept a little day-school for the girls.

Nobody wants a baby to cry.

A hospital Nursery is one of the most beautiful places in the world. You might say, it’s a

room filled with love.

Thus, by sentence we understand the smallest communicative unit, consisting of one or

more syntactically connected words that has primary predication and that has a certain intonation

pattern.

Noun. General

General characteristics.

 

The noun is the central lexical unit of language. It is the main nominative unit of speech. As any other part of speech, the noun can be characterised by three criteria: semantic (the meaning), morphological (the form and grammatical catrgories) and syntactical (functions, distribution).

Semantic features of the noun. The noun possesses the grammatical meaning of thingness, substantiality. According to different principles of classification nouns fall into several subclasses:

1. According to the type of nomination they may be proper and common;

2. According to the form of existence they may be animate and inanimate. Animate nouns in their turn fall into human and non-human.

3. According to their quantitative structure nouns can be countable and uncountable.

This set of subclasses cannot be put together into one table because of the different principles of classification.

Morphological features of the noun. In accordance with the morphological structure of the stems all nouns can be classified into: simple,derived (stem + affix, affix + stem – thingness); compound (stem+ stem – armchair) and composite (the Hague). The noun has morphological categories of number and case. Some scholars admit the existence of the category of gender.

Syntactic features of the noun. The noun can be used un the sentence in all syntacticfunctions but predicate. Speaking about noun combinability, we can say that it can go into right-hand and left-hand connections with practically all parts of speech. That is why practically all parts of speech but the verb can act as noun determiners. However, the most common noun determiners are considered to be articles, pronouns, numerals, adjectives and nouns themselves in the common and genitive case.

 

In most cases in treating parts of speech in English we shall keep to the conception of

scientists that we refer to post-structural tendency. It's because they combine the ideas of

traditional and structural grammarians.

The noun is classified into a separate word - group because:

1. they all have the same lexical - grammatical meaning:

substance / thing

2. according to their form - they've two grammatical categories:

number and case

3. they all have typical stem-building elements:

- er, - ist, - ship, - merit, -hood...

4. typical combinability with other words:

most often left-hand combinability

5. function - the most characteristic feature of nouns is - they can be observed in all syntactic functions

but predicate.

Some words about the distribution of nouns. Because of the fact that nouns express or

denote substance / thing, their distribution is bound with the words which express the quality of

substance, their number, their actions and their relation to the other words /nouns/ in English.

When the quality of nouns are described we make use of adjectives:

big, red apple

energetic crisis

a long, dusty track and others.

When the quantity and order of nouns are described the numerals are to be used:

the six continents

25th anniversary

12 students....

When we denote the action of substances we make use of the verbs:

An apple-tree grows in the garden

Russia assisted India in Mounting Bokaro Steal Plant

When the relation of nouns to other words are described we make wide use of prepositions

a window of the school

to the park

at the construction of the bridge

In all these cases with the exception of verbs the noun is characterized with left-hand

combinability / in overwhelming majority/. So far as to the verbs are concerned they may both

precede and follow them.

Verb. General

Grammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech. First of all it performs the central role in realizing predication - connection between situation in the utterance and reality. That is why the verb is of primary informative significance in an utterance. Besides, the verb possesses quite a lot of grammatical categories. Furthermore, within the class of verb various subclass divisions based on different principles of classification can befound.

Semantic features of the verb. The verb possesses the grammatical meaning of verbiality - the ability to denote a process developing in time. This meaning is inherent not only in the verbs denoting processes, but also in those denoting states, forms of existence, evaluations, etc.

Morphological features of the verb. The verb possesses the following grammatical categories: tense, aspect, voice, mood, person, number, finitude and phase. The common categories for finite and non-finite forms are voice, aspect, phase and finitude. The grammatical categories of the English verb find their expression in synthetical and analytical forms. The formative elements expressing these categories are grammatical affixes, inner inflexion and function words. Some categories have only synthetical forms (person, number), others - only analytical (voice). There are also categories expressed by both synthetical and analytical forms (mood, tense, aspect).

Syntactic features. The most universal syntactic feature of verbs is their ability to be modified by adverbs. The second important syntactic criterion is the ability of the verb to perform the syntactic function of the predicate. However, this criterion is not absolute because only finite forms can perform this function while non-finite forms can be used in any function but predicate. And finally, any verb in the form of the infinitive can be combined with a modal verb.

 

 

Words like to read, to live, to go, to jump are called verbs because of their following features.

1. they express the meanings of action and state;

2. they have the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, mood, order and posteriority

most of which have their own grammatical means;

3. the function of verbs entirely depends on their forms: if they in finite form they fulfill only one function –

predicate. But if they are in non-finite form then they can fulfill any function in the sentence but predicate;

they may be part of the predicate;

4. verbs can combine actually with all the parts of speech, though they do not combine with articles, with

some pronouns. It is important to note that the combinability of verbs mostly depends on the syntactical

function of verbs in speech;

5. verbs have their own stem-building elements. They are:

postfixes: -fy (simplify, magnify, identify…)

-ize (realize, fertilize, standardize…)

-ate (activate, captivate…)

prefixes: re- (rewrite, restart, replant…)

mis- (misuse, misunderstand, misstate…)

un- (uncover, uncouple, uncrown…)

de- (depose, depress, derange…) and so on.

The Types of Verbs

The classification of verbs can be undertaken from the following points of view:

1) meaning

2) form - formation;

3) function.

I. There are three basic forms of the verb in English: infinitive, past indefinite and PII.

These forms are kept in mind in classifying verbs.

II. There are four types of form-formation:

1. affixation: reads, asked, going...

2. variation of sounds: run – ran, may – might, bring – brought...

3. suppletive ways: be – is – am – are – was; go – went...

4. analytical means: shall come, have asked, is helped...

There are productive and non-productive ways of word-formation in present-day English

verbs.

Affixation is productive, while variation of sounds and suppletion are non-productive.

Parts of the sentence

The parts of the sentences are the basic syntactical units. First and important in the investigation of the structure of the sentence is segmentation that is articulation of the composition of the sentence into constituents.The part of the sentence when it functional syntactical nature doesn't change in all unlimited number of the real sentences differently expressed lexically under conditions of identity of lexemes is sorted as a component of each new sentence with all the new subjects, with their properties, their terms of existencePart of the sentence is a two-sided language mark, which possesses the meaning and the form.Its meaning is syntactic function, that is, that substantial relation, in which given syntactic element is in another structure of some syntactic consecution of elements. The form of the part - is not only syntactically meaningful morphological form of the word, but also characteristics, connected with the belonging of the word to the definite part of speech or to the category of words inside of the part of speech, presence or absence of secondary auxiliary words.

Compound sentence.

A compound sentence is a sentence which consists of two or more clauses coordinated with each other. A clause is part of a sentence which has a subject and a predicate of its own.In a compound sentence the clauses may be connected: (a) syndetically, i.e. by means of coordinating conjunctions (and, or, else, but, etc.) or conjunctive adverbs (otherwise, however, nevertheless, yet, etc.); (b) asyndetically, i.e. without a conjunction or conjunctive adverb. We can distinguish the following types of coordination: 1. Copulative coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘and, nor, neither…nor, not only…but (also)’. With the help of these conjunctions the statement expressed in the clause is simply added to that expressed in another. 2. Disjunctive coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘or, else, or else, either…or’, and the conjunctive adverb ‘otherwise’. By these a choice is offered between the statements expressed in two clauses. 3.Adversative coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘but, while, whereas’ and the conjunctive adverbs ‘nevertheless, still, yet’. These are conjunctions and adverbs connecting two clauses contrasted in meaning. 4. Causative-consecutive coordination, expressed by the conjunctions ‘for, so’ and the conjunctive adverbs ‘therefore, accordingly, consequently, hence’. ‘For’ introduces coordinate clauses explaining the preceding statement. ‘Therefore, so, consequently, hence, accordingly’ introduce coordinate clauses denoting cause, consequence and result.Examples of compound sentences include the following: 1) Joe waited for the train, but the train was late. 2) I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station, but they arrived at the station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived. 3) Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived. 4) Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I arrived, so I did not see them at the bus station.

 

The category of Mood

English verbs have four moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and infinitive. Mood is the form of the verb that shows the mode or manner in which a thought is expressed. 1. Indicative Mood: expresses an assertion, denial, or question:Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas.Ostriches cannot fly.Have you finished your homework? 2. Imperative Mood: expresses command, prohibition, entreaty, or advice:Don’t smoke in this building. Be careful!Don’t drown that puppy! 3. Subjunctive Mood: expresses doubt or something contrary to fact. 4. Infinitive Mood: expresses an action or state without reference to any subject. It can be the source of sentence fragments when the writer mistakenly thinks the infinitive form is a fully-functioning verb. When we speak of the English infinitive, we usually mean the basic form of the verb with “to” in front of it: to go, to sing, to walk, to speak. Verbs said to be in the infinitive mood can include participle forms ending in -ed and -ing. Verbs in the infinitive mood are not being used as verbs, but as other parts of speech: To err is human; to forgive, divine. Here, to err and to forgive are used as nouns. He is a man to be admired. Here, to be admired is an adjective, the equivalent of admirable. It describes the noun man. He came to see you. Here, to see you is used as an adverb to tell why he came.

Ways of clause connection

The category of voice

The verb is a part of speech which denotes an action. The grammatical meaning of action is understood widely: it is not only activities proper (He wrote a letter) but both a state (He will soon recover) and just an indication of the fact that the given object exists or belongs to a certain class of objects or persons (A chair is a piece of furniture). It is important that the verb conveys the feature as an action within some period of time, however unlimited. a) Semantically and grammatically English verbs are grouped as transitive (to give), intransitive (to sleep), regular, irregular, mixed, notional, auxiliary, link (to grow, to turn, to look), terminative (to come), non-terminative (to live) and verbs of double lexical (aspect) character (to see). b) The valency of verbs is their combinability. For example, all verbs are characterized by their subordination to the subject of a sentence; transitive verbs are usually combined with an object; auxiliary and link verbs need a notional predicative, etc. c) The verb has the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, voice, and mood. Voice is the category of the verb which indicates the relation of the predicate to the subject and the object. There are two undoubted voices in English: the active voice and the passive voice. The active voice shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject is the doer of the action expressed by the predicate. The passive voice shows that the person or thing denoted by the subject is acted upon. For example, the sentence I read the book is in the active voice because the subject I performs the action of reading and the direct object the book receives the action of reading. The sentence The book was read [by me], is in the passive voice because the subject The book receives the action of reading. Some scholars assume there is one more voice in English, the so-called neuter-reflexive voice. (E.g. She was dressing herself.)

 

The category of tense

The category of tense is a verbal category that reflects the objective category of time. The essential characteristic of the category of tense is that it relates the time of the action, event or state of affairs referred to in the sentence to the time of the utterance (the time of the utterance being 'now ' or the present moment). The tense category is realized through the oppositions. The binary principle of oppositions remains the basic one in the correlation of the forms that represent the grammatical category of tense. The present moment is the main temporal plane of verbal actions. Therefore, the temporal dichotomy may be illustrated by the following graphic representation (the arrows show the binary opposition):

Present Past

Future I Future II

Generally speaking, the major tense-distinction in English is undoubtedly that which is traditionally described as an opposition of past::present. But this is best regarded as a contrast of past:: non-past. Quite a lot of scholars do not recognize the existence of future tenses, because what is described as the 'future' tense in English is realized by means of auxiliary verbs will and shall. Although it is undeniable that will and shall occur in many sentences that refer to the future, they also occur in sentences that do not. And they do not necessarily occur in sentences with a future time reference. That is why future tenses are often treated as partly modal.

Other Categories of Verbs

Besides the already discussed categories of the verb, there are some other categories like

aspect, order, posteriority, tense and others.

These categories are very often mixed up: most authors consider them within the tense

category. To illustrate this we'll view the conception of Henry Sweet.

To H. Sweet (42) there are three tenses in English. "Tense is primarily the grammatical expression of

distinctions of time".

Every occurrence, considered from the point of view of time, must be either past (I was

here yesterday), present (he is here today), or future (he will be here tomorrow).

Simple and Compound Tenses: The present, preterite and future are simple tenses. All the perfect tenses are

referred by him to compound tense. These tenses combine present, past and future respectively with a time anterior

to each of these periods:

present perfect = preterite + preterite;

pluperfect (past p.) = pre-preterite + preterite;

future perfect = pre - future + future

Primary and secondary Tenses: He writes: “When we speak of an occurrence as past, we must have some

point of time from which to measure it.

When we measure the time of an occurrence from the time when we are speaking, that is, from the present,

the tense which expresses the time of the occurrence is called a primary tense. The present, preterite, future and

perfect (the present perfect) are primary tenses.

A secondary tense on the other hand, is measured not from the time when we are speaking, but from some

past or future time of which we are speaking and consequently a sentence containing secondary tense makes us

expect another sentence containing a verb in a primary tense to show the time from which that of the secondary

tense is to be measured. The pluperfect and future perfect are both secondary tenses.

He will have informed his friends by the time they (the quests) arrived.

He had informed his friends when the quests arrived.

Complete and Incomplete Tenses. The explanation of this classification of tenses by H. Sweet is vague and

confused because he mixes up the lexical and grammatical means, compare:

I have lived my life.

1 have lived here a good many years.

The first is complete and second is incomplete. As one can see there's no difference in the form of verbs.

He makes his division because of different distribution of the tense forms. But one point is clear in his conception.

He considers continuous tense to be also incomplete as for instance:

The clock is striking twelve while.

The clock has struck twelve. (complete)

Continuous Tenses are opposed to Point-Tenses:

I've been writing letters all day.

We set out for Germany.

Though even here we observe some confusion. Such examples are also considered to be

continuous or recurrent:

He goes to Germany twice a year.

Definite and Indefinite Tenses: the shorter a tense is, the more definite it generally is in duration. Long

times (continuous and recurrent) - are generally more indefinite:

I write my letters in the evenings.

I am writing a letter.

Q. Jespersen (34):

O. Jeperson’s view of the grammatical tenses in English is illustrated in the table below:

B

A_________________O_________________C

A B Future

Before past

Past

After past

Present

Before future

Future

After future

After-past time: I know of no language which possesses a simple tense for this notion. A usual meaning

“obligation” in English most often is expressed by “was to”:

Next year she gave birth to a son who was to cause her great anxiety.

After future. This has a chiefly theoretical interest, and I doubt very much whether forms like I shall be

going to rewrite (which implies nearness in time to the chief future time is of very frequent occurrence).

The Continuous tenses he calls expanded ones: is writing, will be asking, will have been asking... or

composite tense-forms.

The categories of tense, aspect and order characterize an action from different points of

view.

The tense of a verb shows the time of the action; the aspect of a verb deals with the development of the

action, while order denotes the order of the actions.

When discussing grammatical categories we accepted that a grammatical category is a grammatical

meaning which has a certain grammatical means to be expressed.

The analyses of the following example will help us to make certain conclusions: When you

come he will have been writing his composition. The predicates of the sentence are in the

indicative mood. And, as has been stated, it is in this mood all the grammatical categories of the

verb are expressed. The tense is future and it is expressed by the auxiliary word/verb will. The

order is prior and it is expressed by the auxiliary verb have + - en or - ed. The aspect is continuous

and it is expressed by the auxiliary verb be + ing.

Since all these categories have their own means we may call them grammatical ones. And

as any category must have certain opposition (while defining the grammatical categories we

defined it as “at least having two individual forms”).

The category of tense is orientated with regard to the present tense. The tense category is

the system of three-member opposition. So the present tense may be called as the point of

measurement or orientation point.

The category of order is a system of two-member opposition: prior and non-prior. Compare:

I work - I have worked.

So the prior order marker have + ed is opposite to the zero of non-prior. As in English there are three

tenses. This grammatical category can be expressed in all of them. Present: I work – I have worked. Past: I worked –

I had worked. Future: I shall work – I shall have worked.

The category of aspect is a system of two-member opposition: Continuous – Non-continuous: I work – I

am working.

T o be - ing is the morpheme of the continuous meaning. This category is found in all the three tenses.

Present: I work – I am working

Past: I worked – I was working.

Future: I'll work – I'll be working.

The means of expression of these categories are arranged in a certain sequence. In the

active voice they are arranged in the following way:

Tense is expressed in the first component of the predicate: order – in first or second

(second if it is in the future tense), aspect – in the second or third components. The order means

always precede the aspect means if both are found in the predicate.

If the predicate is in the passive voice the tense is again expressed by the first component

of it while the means of the passive voice follows the means of the aspect and order categories.

Note: In the future tense the passive meaning and the aspect (continuous) is incompatible.

 

The form of the verb may show whether the agent expressed by the subject is the doer of the action or the recipient of the action (John broke the vase - the vase was broken). The objective relations between the action and the subject or object of the action find their expression in language as the grammatical category of voice. Therefore, the category of voice reflects the objective relations between the action itself and the subject or object of the action:

 

 

Relations of actions The category of voice

The category of voice is realized through the opposition Active voice::Passive voice. The realization of the voice category is restricted because of the implicit grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity. In accordance with this meaning, all English verbs should fall into transitive and intransitive. However, the classification turns out to be more complex and comprises 6 groups:

1. Verbs used only transitively: to mark, to raise;

2.Verbs with the main transitive meaning: to see, to make, to build;

3. Verbs of intransitive meaning and secondary transitive meaning. A lot of intransitive verbs may develop a secondary transitive meaning: They laughed me into agreement; He danced the girl out of the room;

4.Verbs of a double nature, neither of the meanings are the leading one, the verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively: to drive home - to drive a car;

5.Verbs that are never used in the Passive Voice: to seem, to become;

6. Verbs that realize their passive meaning only in special contexts: to live, to sleep, to sit, to walk, to jump.